“Griffin,” I declared. I didn’t even make it come out as a question. He was the only other one I ever cared about. I knew it had to be him.

“Yes.”

My stomach dropped. I instantly felt like I was going to throw up and pass out, or maybe a combination of the two.

I couldn’t speak.

He began to describe what happened.

“Driving home from friend’s house…drunk driver…car crash…,”

I dropped the phone. I wasn’t thinking.

I frantically snapped to and picked up the cordless phone from the ground. I snatched it up to my ear, listening intensely.

“Ma’am, are you still there?”

I nodded.

“Ma’am?”

I remembered that he couldn’t see that I was nodding, so I replied faintly, “Yes.”

“Did you hear what I said?”

“Um,” I gulped, not sure that I wanted to hear, but figured I needed to anyways. “Could you repeat it?”

“Your friend, Griffin, was on his way home from a friend’s house around 1:00 in the morning. He was on State Street, when a drunk driver by the name of Todd Banks, driving a blue minivan, swerved to the opposite lane and hit Griffin head on. The car is damaged greatly…,”

I began to get mad. “I don’t care about the car. Is Griffin okay?”

There was a long pause. “Well, there’s really no saying right now. He’s in a coma at the moment. We’re not sure when he’ll wake up. All that’s left to do is wait. He’s at the Memorial Hospital right now. He was flown out in Life Flight almost immediately after the helicopter arrived.”

I let out a small whimper.

“When can I visit him?” I asked.

“Well, visiting hours aren’t until 8:30 in the morning…,”

“I’ll be there then. Thank you so much for informing me on this!”

“Well, I…,” he stammered, and then just gave up. “You’re welcome. Goodnight Ma’am.”

I quickly hung up the phone, and then slowly sank to the floor, my back against the drawers of the counter, and my arms holding my legs securely against my chest.

I began to sob. The tears flowed down my cheeks, my neck, then onto my shirt.

How could this have happened?

I thought I was going to explode from the pain.

I buried my head in my knees, and stayed like that for hours.

***